i Editor's Letter: Behind the scenes

Those of you attending the reader party next week at MOSI, Manchester, will get a little glimpse behind the scenes of i.

Nevertheless, it will pale by comparison with one of the most extraordinary fly-on-the-wall media events I have ever seen: the BBC2 documentary QPR. The Four-Year Plan .You need not be a QPR fan, or even all that much of a football fan to enjoy it, but if you have a dim view of millionaires acquiring football clubs to use them as personal playthings, then I am afraid you will be frothing at the jaw-dropping arrogance of owner Flavio Briatore – although, to be fair, the Mittal family emerges in a decent light. What, if not arrogance, possessed them to allow such levels of access? And yes, names are named.

I have a simple rule whenever I've been asked to take part in anything like that, no matter how large the audience or needy the brand: just say no! Whether the numbers of you that will part with your 20p is likely to be increased by i featuring in such a programme is entirely debatable. What is not is that we would open ourselves up to ridicule and worse. I am proud of our working day and practices here at i . People always ask how we go about producing two newspapers ( i and The Independent) out of one bank of content. That is part of our competitive advantage – and Lord knows we need some in the face of our bigger, wealthier rivals.

But, it's also a bit like asking your teen the question they dread at the end of their day: "How was school?" To which the answer is of course, "fine" or "just school" – accompanied by an eye-roll. Creating i is simpler to do than to explain. It is made a great deal more bearable every day by friendly banter and loose remarks of the sort that come across so damningly on TV.

And if you do not believe me, watch The Four-Year Plan on iPlayer. Then tweet me your view on @stefanohat.

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